At first glance, this camcorder seems identical to the cheaper FDR-AX1; however, Sony’s PXW-Z100 Pro 4K is packed with enough extra punch to get the approval of seasoned videographers . Without a doubt, Sony knows what guns to pull out in the competitive world of professional camcorders.

Capable of recording true 4K 4096 x 2160 resolution video at 50 to 60 fps, the PXW-Z100 is certainly a powerful camcorder that comes in the familiar handheld form factor. Plus, it features a G lens with 20x optical zoom, 3G/HD-SDI and 4K HDMI interfaces, three control rings, and dual XQD memory card slots.

Aside from lending you the power of 4K shooting, this Sony camcorder comes with traditional control and ergonomics so it may be easier for videographers to seamlessly add this equipment to their workflow. Other familiar features include ND filters, gain control settings, XLR audio, white balance presets, and the ASSIN button. Alongside these, PXW-Z100 comes with an ECM-XM1 shotgun microphone, an NP-F970 L-Series battery, and a charger.

So, this Sony innovation records HD (1080p), 4K UHD (3840 x 2160), and cinematic 4K (4096 x 2160) on XQD media cards. It uses standard XAVC codec instead of the XAVC-S that its cheaper cousin, the FDR-AX1, uses. For those who aren’t familiar with XAVC, it’s an intra-frame 4:2:2 ColorSpace codec that runs between 90 Mb/s and 600 Mb/s, though this largely depends on the frame rate and resolution. Because it’s a high-quality codec, it needs both a higher read/write speeds as well as a lot of storage space, which makes the S-series XQD cards ideal to use with PXW-Z100 when the user aims to do 4K recording.